284 GEOGRAPHY FROM AUGUSTUS TO TRAJAN. [CHAP.
continent, and his ignorance of this shews how little he drew
from Roman sources. Thus he seems to identify the Eridanus with
the Rhone, and places the fountains of that river in the neigh-
bourhood of the Pyrenees; while to the northward of the Euxine
the names of the tribes that he mentions are mainly derived from
Herodotus. A curious touch of mathematical geography is found
in his account of the mouth of the Borysthenes, which he speaks
of as lying f over against the Cyanean rocks on the same meridian
linenj and he is also the first author to mention the tribe of
Alans, whom he introduces in connexion with the Dacians and
the Tauri in the south of Russia2. The name of the Huns too
occurs in his description of Asia in the neighbourhood of the
Caspian Sea8, but whether these were the progenitors of the
famous horde who overran Europe, or only an insignificant clan
of the same name, it is impossible to say. The latter part of
the section which is devoted to Europe treats of the three great
peninsulas, or, as the writer quaintly calls them, 'pedestals,' which
project into the Mediterranean.
At this point, before turning to Asia, the writer inserts a long
section relating to the islands—first those of the
Mediterranean, and afterwards those that lie in the
outer sea. It is curious to notice the islands that have been
selected for special mention under the latter head (vv. 555—611).
He begins with Erytheia, a half-mythical name, which we find
frequently associated with Gades, but which here is probably in-
tended to designate one of the Fortunatae Insulae. Next to
these are mentioned the Cassiterides, or, as he calls them, the
'Hesperides islands, whence tin comes,' and the position assigned
to them is in the neighbourhood of the Sacrum Promontorium;
but, as Dionysius says that this headland was the westernmost
point of Europe, it has been conjectured that he really means the
Armorican promontory, which was then believed to project farthest
in that direction; and that, like some preceding writers, he identified
the Cassiterides with Ushant and the other islands in that neigh-
bourhood. Then follow the two British isles, and somewhere not
far off from them the islands of the Amnitae, which were celebrated
1 Dionys., Ptrug.t v. 313; 6o6ov &i •voa.u.wn x-arevavr/a KuavMfAw.